Nick Herbig may have more name recognition following his contract extension, but Mike McCarthy already knew his name in Dallas. Discussing the Steelers’ new $100 million man, he dropped a notable little tidbit from his time as Cowboys head coach.
They visited Pittsburgh in Week 5 in 2024—scoring a win—but that’s when McCarthy realized the kind of player Herbig is. “Playing against Nick”, he said via the Steelers’ website, “he got my attention. We were worried about the matchup in pass protection, but he gave us issues in the run game, too”.
By that point in his career, Nick Herbig was still very much in the making-his-mark phase of his career. A fourth-round pick a year earlier, he had just a couple of dozen games under his belt. As a rookie in 2023, he played under 200 snaps, but he flashed potential with 3 sacks. Leading into the Dallas game against McCarthy’s Cowboys, he had 2 sacks already and 3 tackles for loss.
While nobody denied Nick Herbig’s talent coming out of the draft, many were scared off by his size. In his press conference following his signing, he gave a shoutout to former Steelers HC Mike Tomlin for “taking a chance on me when no one else would”.
In that game against McCarthy’s team, Herbig had half a sack, a tackle for loss, and a fumble recovery, but also an injury. He missed the next four games, then returned with 2 sacks and 3 forced fumbles in his next three contests.
Since then, he has remained a largely consistent player. In roughly 1,200 defensive snaps, he has 16 sacks, 9 forced fumbles, and 23 tackles for loss. He even has an interception, though in reality, he should have more.
The point is, Herbig is a playmaker, and Mike McCarthy already saw that firsthand two years ago. In fact, he got a first-hand look at a lot of his young core in that game. From Darnell Washington and Zach Frazier to Payton Wilson and Keeanu Benton, these are not players that are new to him.
The question with Nick Herbig remains just what he could produce with a full season’s worth of starter snaps, but in Mike McCarthy’s mind, that’s not a worry. In a platoon with T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, and Jack Sawyer, the big concern is keeping fresh pass rushers on the field. It ultimately doesn’t matter who gets credit or who makes the plays. He just wants a bunch of dogs on the sideline hungry for their chance at the bone. And Herbig might be the hungriest dog of the pack.
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